Sign up with email

or

Already a member? Log in.

Trouble logging in?

Not a member? Sign up!

As a port city, Naples has seen several civilizations come and go over the years. The Normans, Swabians, Angevins, Aragonese, French, Spanish… they all had an impact on Naples’ architecture, language and, most importantly, its food. Neapolitan cuisine reflects these centuries of foreign domination, which has led to culinary cross-pollination and gastronomic innovations.

While foreign conquerors may no longer be putting their stamp on Neapolitan cooking, local chefs and bakers still look outside for inspiration as they continue to innovate, searching for new ingredients, new flavors and new methods. The aim is not to abandon the city’s rich culinary heritage, but to build upon it.

Take the Neapolitan pastiera, the queen mother of all baked goods in the kingdom of Naples; the recipe for this tart has rarely deviated from the original formula, which was first concocted 200 years ago in the convent of San Gregorio Armeno, located in the city’s historic center. Echoing Naples’ history, the pastiera is a melting pot of ingredients: Italian wheat and ricotta are added to Lebanese citron, Sri Lankan cinnamon and Mexican vanilla.

But Guglielmo Mazzaro, a third-generation Neapolitan pastry maker and owner of Mazz bakery, is taking a radical approach to the traditional sweet: He has started making his pastiera with pistachios. It’s an unexpected innovation, yet by no means unwelcome – the pistachio gives the pastiera a very intense and soft flavor. It seems that pastry experiments are no longer the sole realm of Neapolitan convents.

Pastry experiments are no longer the sole realm of Neapolitan convents.

Guglielmo’s family has been running the pastry shop, which used to be called Mazzaro, since the early 20th century. Vittorio Mazzaro, his father, was in charge of the bakery in the 1970s, when it was renowned for its delightful brioche. Today the shop is called Mazz, a contraction of Mazzaro, which means luck.

The pastiera is not only the pastry he’s experimenting with. There’s also the caprese, a cake from the famous island of Capri. Typically made with chocolate and almonds, Guglielmo elevates the dish by adding in his beloved pistachio.

Yet Mazz is probably best known for its Ponte Nuovo (“New Bridge”), a sweet that the young Guglielmo resurrected from his family’s historical recipes. This cake is so delicious and so light that we have to eat at least two to be satisfied.

The New Bridge is a pile of puff pastry, stuffed with pastry cream and pasta bignè (cream puff dough) with orange skins, surmounted by “bridges” of puff pastry. As it cooks, the pasta bignè rises and expands into the latticework of the puff pastry. The result is exceptional.

Being a fresh sweet, the New Bridge must be consumed on the same day that it’s made. Vincenzo, the extravagant bartender at Mazz, spends all day hoping that they remain untouched, so in the evening he can take them home for himself. But given their popularity, his wish is rarely granted.

  • Pasticceria PoppellaMarch 13, 2019 Pasticceria Poppella (0)
    It almost never snows in Naples. Yet in the last decade, the city has seen an invasion […] Posted in Naples
  • Ciro Pace BakeryDecember 4, 2017 Ciro Pace Bakery (0)
    Sometimes we crave salty, sometimes sweet. But there are those inexplicable moments when […] Posted in Naples
  • The BabàJuly 18, 2017 The Babà (0)
    The Neapolitan pastry landscape is dominated by three sweet treats: sfogliatella, a […] Posted in Naples
Gianni Cipriano and Sara Smarrazzo

Published on August 22, 2017

Related stories

March 13, 2019

Pasticceria Poppella: Let it Snow

Naples | By Amedeo Colella
NaplesIt almost never snows in Naples. Yet in the last decade, the city has seen an invasion of snowflakes. We’re not talking about an atmospheric phenomenon – rather, it is Pasticerria Poppella’s il fiocco di neve (“the snowflake”), a true gastronomic prodigy that has quickly become a “new classic” of Neapolitan pastry, as evidenced by…
Discover family-run shops on our Naples culinary walk!
December 4, 2017

Ciro Pace Bakery: Fathers and Sons

Naples | By Amedeo Colella
NaplesSometimes we crave salty, sometimes sweet. But there are those inexplicable moments when we want both at the same time. At these moments of mixed signals, we make our way to Ciro Pace Bakery on Via Nazionale for a rustico soffiato. This perfect mix of salty and sweet is made of short pastry and pâte…
July 18, 2017

The Babà: Naples’ King of Cakes

Naples | By Amedeo Colella
NaplesThe Neapolitan pastry landscape is dominated by three sweet treats: sfogliatella, a shell-shaped pastry with a variety of fillings; pastiera, a type of tart flavored with orange flower water and most commonly served at Easter; and babà, a small yeast cake soaked in a liquor syrup. The first two cakes were born and raised in…
Select your currency
USD United States (US) dollar
EUR Euro